looking for ideas? how to mark my chicks ?

[WhisperingWinds]

ok, I have 34 baby chicks... all different mixed breeds and sizes, all within two weeks age difference.

After my first batch of babies I got in April and all 9 turned out to be roo's... I started asking about ways to tell the difference in sex when they are babies. Of course I learned there really is no way to tell.

But... I had a couple of people tell me about an old wives tale to "ring them". Holding a ring on a string and seeing if it goes in a circle or back and forth. I have never heard of this before, thought that was really crazy but interesting.

So I put a ring on a string and held it in front of my 4 year old son, it moved side to side....
then in front of my 3 year old son, did the same thing...
then in front of me and it went in a circle... wow thinking this is crazy stuff but cool...

so when we got these new babies Sunday afternoon, by husband and took out one at a time held them arms length from us and tried the ring and string thing... LOL
According to that little test we have 14 roo's and 20 hens...

I have been keeping them separate, as I want to see if that worked. But now I want to put them all back together. I was thinking about painting toenails, but do not think that will work...

Anyone have any great ideas of ways to mark them, so I can tell which ones I think are girls and boys???
Was thinking about putting bread twistie ties around their ankles, but not sure if they will pick at them? and do not want to hurt them... ???

Thanks for any thoughts!!

Stacey

 

[salunra]

Leg bands. Or colored zip ties. Just make sure to remove them before the chicks get too big.

 

[kjt135]

I was thinking of this too. My granddaughter did the "hold them upside down test" and wanted to know if she got any of them right but couldn't figure out how to mark them. I think I will try the twist ties real loose. Thanks for the reply salunra and thanks for asking this question Whiperingwinds
Karen

 

[WhisperingWinds]

ok, What is the upside down test?????
Stacey

 

[kjt135]

Hold a chick upside down and if it fights its a roo and if it just calms down its a hen. Saw it on here and granddaughter wanted to try it and see if it works My guess is it's like all the other wives tales 50/50 either way.

 

[Arica]

Wow neat wil try